KEY POINTS:
Radio New Zealand has had a rough year, recording declining audiences and an operating deficit for the first time.
The state-owned public radio broadcaster said in its 2005-06 annual report that it had not met its audience targets.
National Radio aimed to have a minimum cumulative audience of 480,000, but only recorded 469,000.
The cumulative audience is the number of different people listening for at least an 8-minute period from Monday to Sunday 6am to midnight.
The cumulative audience in 2005 was 514,800. The average number of people listening in any 15-minute period during the same period had also fallen from 49,400 to 46,400, though the average time listening had increased from 12.05 hours a week to 12.26.
National Radio has always been reluctant to take part in commercial surveys of radio audience share, but the annual report said it had 10.5 per cent of the audience share of those over 15.
The report said the new Radio New Zealand website had proved popular with a sevenfold increase in traffic.
The audio on demand service in October last year had over 278,000 requests in May/June 2006.
Concert Radio had a sharp decline in listeners who were also listening for a shorter period.
Chairman Brian Corban did not refer to the declines in audience in the report, but said Radio New Zealand operated in one of the most competitive radio markets in the world. He said it had been a difficult financial year with inflation eroding the core budget and the need to divert money to new operations.
"For the first time in many years the organisation recorded a net operating deficit, amounting to $595,000, for the year."
It had enough money to cover the deficit.
- NZPA
